Werdum, who was surprisingly dropped by the UFC in 2008 after a 2-2 record, is now 2-0 in Strikeforce. After a submission victory over Mike Kyle in August, the Brazilian fighter then scored a unanimous decision victory over Antonio Silva in a hard-fought bout at Strikeforce’s November debut on CBS.

Emelianenko, meanwhile, made his heavily hyped Strikeforce debut at the same November show. The signing came after the fighter and UFC officials could not come to terms on a deal of their own.

The former longtime PRIDE heavyweight champion was challenged in his Strikeforce debut but ultimately scored a vicious second-round knockout of then-undefeated Brett Rogers. It was his 27th consecutive victory (with one no-contest).

Although Emelianenko is expected to eventually fight Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (31-11 MMA, 2-0 SF), who hasn’t competed in the organization since winning his title in November 2007, Coker isn’t sure when the champion will fight next, though April is a possibility.

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In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?